


how to catch a thief.

by Cloudy



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Experimental Style, Inspired by Poetry, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-05-20
Packaged: 2018-11-02 20:25:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10952085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cloudy/pseuds/Cloudy
Summary: Ten steps which maybe miss the mark of your intended purpose. You came here to catch the thief, but have resolved to try something else instead.





	how to catch a thief.

Step one: You fly halfway across the world, with plans to show everyone else that they’re all doing it wrong, they just need a genius to show them how it’s done.

Step two: The thief baffles you, stands close enough to touch, and then vanishes out of reach and up up up impossibly high before you, escaping, and you are beginning to see how he’s gone uncaught so long. Only beginning, though.

Step three: You pore over databases. You analyze his escapes. You try to find his flaws, and you try to find the cracks in his guise. It takes you weeks to realize you’ve met his civilian identity. He hides in plain sight.

Step four: He is impossible and you know it now. Impossible because he is so obvious and yet so careful. Impossible because he is a paradox, a thief who never steals, a villain who never harms. A criminal who cares more for bringing excitement than loosing the reigns on his chaos.

Step five: Sometimes there is gunfire at the heists, and it is not from your colleagues. He is frightened and They are trying to kill him. Whoever _They_ are. But every time you confront him, he takes the role of cornered animal, wars with fight or flight, jumps away and leaves you gasping from the smoke he disappears into.

Step six: You begin to think that to catch him is to kill him, and so you abandon your pursuit and take on a new one, unbeknownst to anyone else. You sabotage plans to apprehend, alter the information you have when you convey it to the officers. _He fled Southeast_ when he actually headed due South. _He must be trying to escape by rooftop_ when you know all hints point to the underground exit.

Step seven: He begins to notice, and you notice him notice. You don’t dare edge too close to him, lest you undo your progress. And then the talking starts. The implied truce in the echo of the heist. The hinting at secrets. The speaking through filters, where everything is innuendo, a code to be deciphered. It always ends with you becoming too direct and frightening him off. Chilled grins and smoke bombs.

Step eight: You are finally making progress. He is testing you, giving you opportunities to turn on him and prove him right, but you never do, and he begins to relax. He still denies his identity, and you learn not to press too hard. In time, you begin to confide in each other. He learns you are just as frightened as he. You learn he is angry and out for justice. He learns to trust you, at least a little.

Step nine: You put forward more effort to befriend his civilian identity. He is not unreceptive. You obscure telling evidence at the heist, and realize you will break the law if it means keeping him safe. You look into the ominous _They_ and learn you might even die if it means keeping him safe.

Step ten: You do not know anything. You’ve never caught him, and you never will. Or perhaps you have caught him, to keep him from falling. To give him something to hold onto. Perhaps that is what he is doing for you, too.

**Author's Note:**

> Very very very heavily inspired by tumblr user poemsforpersephone's work Seven Steps to Falling in Love. Read it here: http://poemsforpersephone.tumblr.com/post/139069401719/seven-steps-to-falling-in-love-ls-step-1-you


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